UPCOMING TALK: USING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Date: 13/AUG/2018

Time: 1800(VFP) / 1830(Public) / 1900(Start)

Location: Housman Books, 5 Caledonian Road, N1

Detail:

New Zealand’s ‘comfortable’ official memory of its Mediterranean Military Ventures.

Starting in the 1940s the New Zealand government deliberately began shaping a ‘comfortable’ historical/commemorative version of the Second World War for its citizens and veterans. It wanted a united population that only saw inspired leadership, common good and a small idealistic nation entering the world stage. In doing so, it justified military disasters, the non-democratic Mediterranean regimes the major allies were willing to support with the help of New Zealand regular troops and servicemen on loan to British special forces. But the state also hid efforts where it had sought to imbue popular democracy in one of those countries, why? Similarly, the official version neglected an iconic New Zealand officer/writer who is now presented as being the embodiment of the New Zealand national identity.

This presentation seeks to offer answers to these questions as well as illustrating the strategies applied by New Zealand decision-makers in shaping an official version of the war.

Speaker: Dr Martyn Brown is an Honorary Research Fellow with the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, University of Queensland, Brisbane. He has also held an honorary position at the Stout Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

He has published academic papers and newspaper articles on the wartime New Zealand-Greek relationship. Recently he researched, wrote and co-produced a radio documentary/podcast on the mass Greek political mutiny of April 1944. He is in London to carry out more historical research.

Marc Dickens15/08/2018, 04:39

I believe most countries are guilty of trying to whitewash the past and rewrite history. ANZAC Day was for servicemen and the people to remember those who had fallen during war. It was suppose to send a message of the folly of war but has become used as a political military recruitment drive day. In schools children are taught of the WW I heroics of Simpson and his donkey, a medic going out into no-mans land and picking up the wounded, seldom are they told the ANZACs were delivered to the wrong beach or about the carnage of war, the life of a disabled ex-serviceman and their families or of the lies of the politicians that created the mess in the first place

Australia and NZ have only once had to protect their shores from an enemy, (WWI) yet since the BOAR war our forces have taken part in every war the US or UK (excluding the Falklands) has been involved in. Only the other day I was talking to a fellow Aussie and the discussion turned to Vietnam, another war started by lies, I pointed out that we were told by our politicians that we had to go and fight in Vietnam to thwart the progress of Communism, we lost big time and we never became communist, in reply I was told that we succeeded in sending a message to Malaysia not to become communist and in doing so sent a message to others. I failed to see how losing sends a message for others to desist, but his viewpoint comes from reading and listening to years of the same whitewashed propaganda.

Thankfully a vet or some vets came up with the idea of Veterans for Peace and are trying to prevent politicians from making the same mistakes that they have in the past, it is going to be a struggle as the profits from war seem to outweigh the costs and the politicians lies are supported by immoral MSM without conscience